I Just Wanna Go Home

[DOUGHBOYS]

I know this is a baseball site, but I feel the need to tell this story. It happened when I was much younger and it was the most scared I've ever been in my life. Here's hoping you like it....

There was nothing I liked better as a kid then batting rocks with sticks. We lived in the countryside and there were plenty of sticks and rocks around. I would pretend I was Willie Mays or Willie McCovey or Jim Ray Hart hitting against Sandy Koufax or Don Drysdale.
Koufax and Drysdale never knew that I was wearing them out in a remote location.

All of this would come to an end with the announcement from my Mother and Father that we were moving. We were moving to a big city. I'd never lived in a big city and had the usual fears.
Getting to know kids in school was difficult. They knew local landmarks. They knew the streets. Who to fear, who to trust.
I didn't.
My mom and dad tried to get me interested in clubs and events. And I really liked one of them.

I was walking towards home one day carrying my best stick (still with the stick), taking swipes at the air and wishing I were home with the rocks again. Clearing that thought out of my mind, I realized that I was surrounded by a gang. They all wore the same colors and most of them were yelling something at me.
I wondered if I could make it home before they caught me if I chose to run.
Then, one of them threw something at me. I deflected it with my stick and started to run. I ran as fast as I could. I ran till I saw one of them in front of me, I turned and made a dash to the left, but another one was in sight, then another.
I avoided one more, and darting to the left again.
Then, I saw home.
I moved faster than ever....but couldn't believe my eyes.
In front of home were two masked men. One was wearing the gang's colors. The other was in darker colors.
My imagination ran wild. What would these two masked men do to me?
My options were limited. I had momentum on my side and my imagination took me back to Jim Brown in what he would do on a football field.
I could either elude them or bowl over the gang member and deal with consequences from the other one afterwards.
My heart pounding, I decided to elude.

What happened next is still fresh in my mind.
Some of you may already know, I'm sure.

I slid in front of the masked man with the gang colors.
The other masked man called me safe.
It was my first at bat in a Little League game.
One of the programs my mom and dad were sure I'd like.
They were right.

The deception to you, I hope, made for a lot better read than me simply running out my first Little League hit.

[KJ Duke]

Dan, you've become a real pro at this writing gig. In fact, better than most of them.